Earthquakes in New Zealand
Earthquake in New Zealand belong on the basis of their frequency of daily life for New Zealanders, because they are always present. With about 15,000 registered earthquakes per year, 100 to 150 to get it strong enough to a perceived or even a serious threat, belongs to one of the New Zealand earthquake richest countries on earth (see Global Seismic Monitor).
As part of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, the Pacific plate from the east moving in front of the North Island of New Zealand forth beneath the Australian plate and slides on the South Island Alpine Fault in a southerly direction to its edge over. In the North Island does it manifest itself by the volcanic activity of Iceland White, Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu, the bubbling pools of Rotorua and the foothills of the Ruahine Range, Tararua Range and the Rimutaka Range. In the South Island which is visible through the folds of up to 3,754 meters rising Southern Alps and the highest mountain in New Zealand, Mount Cook.
History
Long before Europeans came to New Zealand, the Māori made their specific experiences with their thickness and occurrence of different earthquakes taking place in the land of the long white cloud. In the language of Māori means earthquake in brief Ru and the fluctuating land Rū whenua. Since there are no records of earthquakes from the period before European colonization of New Zealand, you have to rely on stories and legends of each affected iwi ( tribes ). Records there since the beginning of European settlements, that is until 1840.
According to the mythology of the Māori of the sky - god Rūaumoko were (son of Ranginui ) and his wife Papatuanuku, the Earth Goddess, responsible for earthquakes and the fires of volcanoes. When he went away, the earth shook. After the Europeans arrived in the country, this should be done more frequently and more violently than before, as Thomas William Downes took over in his book Old Whanganui Māori reports. The Māori made the Europeans responsible for the earthquake, although earlier stories of severe earthquakes have been handed down orally from Māori.
Thus, for example, of two severe earthquakes in the area reported to Taupo and Rotorua, where according to tradition, of Rotorua, a village of 1,000 people said to have been swallowed and the area was transformed into a lake. Since the Taupo Volcanic Zone actually lowers slowly, a quake with such effects may well have taken place.
List of serious earthquakes
The list includes major earthquakes, all of which are created very close to the surface and considered relevant.
(1) - if not otherwise stated, magnitude Ms of the surface wave magnitude scale